A celebration of 75 years of Roosevelt University

U.S. Representative

Ray Clevenger

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U.S. Representative | BA Political Science, ’49

Ray Clevenger served as Roosevelt’s student council president with Harold Washington as his vice president. In 1963, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in Michigan’s 11th congressional district. Clevenger wrote that his role in Congress gave him “the opportunity to learn about and teach the democratic principles that I had been taught at Roosevelt University.”

Clevenger voted in favor of the Voting Rights Act of 1965; two decades later, the law was renewed with the support of Washington, his former VP.

Harold Washington

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U.S. Representative, Mayor of Chicago | BA Political Science, ’49

Harold Washington

Harold Washington began his political career as the vice president and then president of Roosevelt’s student council. He went on to serve for 15 years in the Illinois state legislature and for two terms in the U.S. House. As Chicago’s first black mayor, Washington increased minority representation in city government and sought to balance economic development between neighborhoods.

Washington was nicknamed the “People’s Mayor” for his ability to unify Chicagoans from different backgrounds. In a campaign speech, he once said: “In the future when you ask me, ‘What are you really like, Mayor Washington?’ I’m going to say, ‘Go over to Roosevelt University. I’m like them.’”